School holidays are 28 June to 20 July. Try and avoid these as the park is a lot busier. I would aim for the Satara area given your short stay. Satara, Orpen, talamati(bushveld) are all good. I have not stayed at Tamboti Tented camp! but it looks great. I think Maroela is camping only. not sure about that.

I think you will be restricted by availability, but try not to do more than a couple of camps. We usually stay about 3 nights per camp and find this great to see the area.

Any camp will be great, it is all about right place, right time....even in the Satara area.

Enjoy.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything betterAlbert Einstein

dperreault, a warm welcome to the forum and wish you a memorable trip to SA.

4-5 days in Kruger, you want to in position to maximise your opportunity for great sightings, hence, I will also go for southern region and Satara-Tamboti-Orpen further north.Well 2 factors will be the availability of accommodation and the other one is there any specific animal on you wish list.

All the camps in the south got great sighting potential i.e. Berg n Dal, Crocodile Bridge, Lower Sabie, Shukuza and Biyamiti. All of these camps are not far from each other, so you can enjoy some great drives in the south.However, Satara is 90 km from Skukuza and Lower Sabie, respectively, but got a different eco system which attracts a lot of grazers, therefore also predators.

First look at which of these camps have availability and the structure a route around that. As I have mentioned, all these camps are brilliant with their own uniqueness. As suggested by other forumites, rather settle in one camp for 2 nights , 2 nights and perhaps 1 night to fill up the 5 days than 5 different camps and you can only book in at 14h00 and the camps in the south are relatively closer that those up north.

Is there any preferences sighting wise i.e. are you birders, love scenic routes or the big 5?

"Everything I do, is exclusively my appreciation for the love of nature and showcase my Creator's creation".

Hi dperreault. I also agree with Kaapsedraai and cheetahlady. The Satara area will be brilliant. Satara and Orpen are Rest camps. Talamati is a bush camp and Tamboti is a satellite camp (of Orpen)I have stayed at all 4 and they are all great with great sightings.

Satara is a large rest camp with pool, shop and restaurant. Orpen has a pool, well stocked shop but no restaurant. Talamati and Tamboti have none of the above.

If I had 4-5 days I would do 2-3 at Satara and 2 at Talamati or maybe 2 at Satara, 2 at Talamati and maybe 1 at Tamboti. Keep in mind that at Tamboti the luxury tents have kitchenettes and bathrooms, but the normal safari tents do not and you will have to use the communal facilities.My other suggestion would have been 2 nights Lower Sabi and 2 nights Pretoriuskop, but I doubt you will get any accommodation for them now.

If you had asked my better half what the difference was between the two types of camps before I introduced her to Tamboti for the first time, she would have said that you rest in rest camps, but not so much at bush camps

Thanks to all of you for your quick and informed responses; I'm very grateful. Thanks also for the school holiday dates, as that will make a difference in our planning.I wish we COULD visit in September, but we are restricted but our son's school schedule; vacation for him here in Colorado is May 28 - August 14.With gratitude,Denise Perreault

Hi Denise and welcome to the Forums - you will find lots of useful information here.

Just a quick note - the school holiday dates you were given in another post are for the Government schools (the majority of schools) but the private schools around Johannesburg/Pretoria have their holiday from 8th August to 9th September. Their holiday should not have has much effect on Kruger bookings as the Government schools, but bear it in mind.

Have fun with your planning and booking and have a wonderful trip when it comes round.